U.S. patent application number 09/726979 was filed with the patent office on 2001-07-19 for transmitting and receiving apparatus.
Invention is credited to Ko, Siu Ling.
Application Number | 20010008499 09/726979 |
Document ID | / |
Family ID | 23921114 |
Filed Date | 2001-07-19 |
United States Patent
Application |
20010008499 |
Kind Code |
A1 |
Ko, Siu Ling |
July 19, 2001 |
Transmitting and receiving apparatus
Abstract
Ultrasonic transmitting and receiving apparatus comprises a
transmitter operable in response to a program to emit an ultrasonic
signal and a receiver preprogrammed with a plurality of functions
actuable in response to a said ultrasonic signal from the
transmitter. The transmitter may comprise a PC 10 with a
loudspeaker 18 and the receiver may comprise a stuffed toy 12
housing a microphone 14 and a microprocessor decoder and controller
16. Decoded signals may actuable motion, visual and audio functions
of the toy.
Inventors: |
Ko, Siu Ling; (Kowloon,
HK) |
Correspondence
Address: |
DARBY & DARBY P.C
805 Third Avenue
New York
NY
10022
US
|
Family ID: |
23921114 |
Appl. No.: |
09/726979 |
Filed: |
November 30, 2000 |
Related U.S. Patent Documents
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Application
Number |
Filing Date |
Patent Number |
|
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09726979 |
Nov 30, 2000 |
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09483688 |
Jan 14, 2000 |
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Current U.S.
Class: |
367/2 |
Current CPC
Class: |
G08C 23/02 20130101;
A63H 30/04 20130101 |
Class at
Publication: |
367/2 |
International
Class: |
H04B 001/59 |
Claims
1. An ultrasonic transmitting and receiving apparatus comprising a
transmitter operable in response to a set of instructions to
generate an ultrasonic signal at predetermined times in accordance
with said instructions; and a receiver pre-programmed with a
plurality of functions each of which is actuable in response to a
said ultrasonic signal from said transmitter.
2. The apparatus as claimed in claim 1 wherein said transmitter is
also operable in response to said set of instructions to emit an
audio signal.
3. The apparatus as claimed in claim 1 wherein said set of
instructions is contained in a program runnable in a computer.
4. The apparatus as claimed in claim 1 wherein said transmitter
comprises a computer, television or radio provided with one of a
loudspeaker capable of emitting said ultrasonic signal and a
connection to a cable for direct transmission of said ultrasonic
signal.
5. The apparatus as claimed in claim 1 wherein said transmitter
comprises a computer and said set of instructions is contained in a
program runnable in the computer, said computer being provided with
a loudspeaker capable of emitting said ultrasonic signal at
predetermined times during running of the program.
6. The apparatus as claimed in claim 5 wherein the program when
running in the computer enables the computer to generate a visual
display on a screen, a said ultrasonic signal and a said audio
signal.
7. The apparatus as claimed in claim 1 wherein said receiver
includes a microphone, a microprocessor decoder and controller and
means whereby a said ultrasonic signal received by the microphone
may be converted to an electronic signal and sent to the decoder to
actuate a said function.
8. The apparatus as claimed in claim 7 wherein each of said
preprogrammed functions is switchable between an on-and-off
condition in response to a said ultrasonic signal from the
transmitter.
9. The apparatus as claimed in claim 7 wherein one or more of the
settings of a said pre-programmed function is variable in response
to a said ultrasonic signal from the transmitter.
10. The apparatus as claimed in claim 7 wherein said functions
comprise audio and/or visual and/or motion functions.
11. The apparatus as claimed in claim 7 wherein each said
ultrasonic signal comprises a series of width modulated tone
bursts.
12. The apparatus as claimed in claim 1 wherein said transmitter
comprises a computer and said set of instructions is contained in a
program runnable in the computer, said computer being provided with
a cable capable of transmitting said ultrasonic signal at
predetermined times during running of the program.
13. The apparatus as claimed in claim 1 wherein said receiver
includes a connection to a cable and controller and means whereby a
said ultrasonic signal received by said cable may be converted to
an electronic signal and sent to the decoder to actuate a said
function.
14. The apparatus as claimed in claim 5 wherein said loudspeaker is
further capable of emitting an audio signal.
15. The apparatus of claim 7 wherein said receiver is housed in one
of a stuffed toy and a robot.
16. The apparatus of claim 1 wherein said ultrasonic signal
generated by said transmitter is transmitted to said receiver by
one of a loud speaker capable of emitting said ultrasonic signal
and a cable connecting said transmitter to said receiver.
Description
[0001] This invention relates to transmitting and receiving
apparatus comprising a transmitter capable of transmitting sound
waves at an ultrasonic frequency and a receiver actuable to perform
predetermined functions in response to such transmissions.
[0002] In accordance with the broadest aspect of the invention
there is provided ultrasonic transmitting and receiving apparatus
comprising a transmitter operable in response to a set of
instructions to emit an ultrasonic signal at predetermined times in
accordance with said instructions; and a receiver pre-programmed
with a plurality of functions each of which is actuable in response
to a said ultrasonic signal from said transmitter.
[0003] The transmitter is preferably also operable in response to
said set of instructions to emit an audio signal. Said transmitter
may comprise a computer, television or radio provided with a
loudspeaker capable of emitting said ultrasonic signal and said
audio signal.
[0004] Conveniently said transmitter comprises a computer and said
set of instructions is contained in a program runnable in the
computer, the computer being provided with a loudspeaker capable of
emitting said ultrasonic signal at predetermined times during
running of the programme and also being capable of emitting an
audio signal. The programme when running in the computer may enable
the computer to generate a visual display on a screen, a said
ultrasonic signal and a said audio signal.
[0005] Said receiver preferably includes a microphone, a
microprocessor decoder and controller and means whereby a said
ultrasonic signal received by the microphone may be converted to an
electronic signal and sent to the decoder to actuate a said
function. Said functions may comprise audio and/or visual and/or
motion functions. In an alternative embodiment, the ultrasonic
signal generated in the PC can be transmitted to the decoder
electronically without the speaker and microphone by using a cable
attached to the output of the PC (or other transmission device) and
input of the decoder (or other receiver device). Each of said
pre-programmed functions is conveniently switchable between an
on-and-off condition in response to a said ultrasonic signal from
the transmitter or alternatively, one or more of the settings of a
said pre-programmed function may be variable in response to a said
ultrasonic signal from the transmitter.
[0006] Other features of the invention will become apparent from
the following description given herein solely by way of example
with reference to the accompanying drawings wherein
[0007] FIG. 1a is a diagrammatic representation of transmitting and
receiving apparatus including a speaker and a microphone in
accordance with the invention,
[0008] FIG. 1b is a diagrammatic representation of transmitting and
receiving apparatus in which the speaker and microphone mode of
transmission is replaced with a cable,
[0009] FIG. 2a is a diagrammatic representation similar to FIG. 1
showing the receiving apparatus in the form of a toy,
[0010] FIG. 2b is a diagrammatic representation similar to FIG. 1
showing the receiving apparatus in the form of a robot, and
[0011] FIG. 3 is a diagrammatic representation of an ultrasonic
tone burst of the type transmitted from the transmitter to the
receiver.
[0012] One embodiment of transmitting and receiving apparatus
constructed in accordance with the invention comprises the
embodiment illustrated in the drawings comprising a personal
computer (PC) 10 and a stuffed toy 12 housing a microphone 14,
microprocessor decoder and controller 16 and means whereby an
ultrasonic signal received by the microphone may be converted to an
electronic signal and sent to the decoder to actuate an audio
and/or visual and/or motion function.
[0013] The PC 10 is wired to a loudspeaker 18 capable of emitting
signals in the audio and ultrasonic frequency ranges. The
loudspeaker connection to the PC enables a set of instructions
contained within a program runnable in the computer to transmit
commands in the form of ultrasonic tone bursts at predetermined
time intervals during the running of the program. The program may
also generate visual images on the screen of the PC monitor and
also generate audio signals at any time during running of the
program. Thus in this embodiment the PC and loudspeaker connected
thereto comprise the transmitter part of the transmitting and
receiving apparatus.
[0014] The receiver part of the apparatus may comprise a stuffed
toy 12 or a robot (for example, a stuffed toy robot) 30 as
illustrated diagrammatically in FIGS. 2 and 4, respectively. The
toy houses a microphone 14 which may be of a condenser type with a
frequency coverage of up to 30 KHz. The toy also houses a
microprocessor decoder and controller 16 conveniently comprising a
PIC16C5X single chip microprocessor under the controller of a
proprietary program. The microprocessor receives data transmitted
from the PC 10 and loudspeaker 18 and microphone 14.
[0015] The toy 12 also houses a motor and gearing 20 for actuating
motion functions, a light 22 for actuating visual functions and a
voice synthesizer 24 for actuating audio functions. All of such
functions as well as the microprocessor decoder and controller are
powered by one or more batteries 26 housed within the toy 12. When
a command is executed at the PC the program transmits the command
in the form of ultrasonic tone bursts through the loudspeaker which
are picked up by the microphone and converted to electronic signals
and sent to the microprocessor decoder. The decoder than decodes
the signal and drives the appropriate motion, visual or audio
device.
[0016] The ultrasonic code comprises a series of width modulated
tone bursts, each tone burst being separated by a short silence
period. Each code consists of a total of 16 bursts with a wide
burst representing the logic "1" and a short burst representing the
logic "0". A command may be represented by a single 16 bit code or
multiple 16 bit codes. A typical command code "1011000010111010" is
illustrated in FIG. 3 of the drawings.
[0017] Each of the functions of the toy is pre-programmed and may
be actuable between an on-and-off condition in response to an
ultrasonic command code or alternatively one or more of the
settings of a said pre-programmed function may be variable in
response to an ultrasonic command code. It will be appreciated that
such codes are not detectable by the human ear and thus a user of
the computer will only hear the audio signals generated by the
program running in the computer. When the receiver is housed within
a toy as described herein, the toy will appear to learn from the
computer because it will respond only to the ultrasonic command
codes which will not be detectable by the computer user. Once the
toy has "learnt" the commands during the running of a computer
program, the toy can subsequently be actuated to reproduce the
"learnt" functions by means of a separate infra-red controller. In
such an embodiment the toy will of course also include an infra-red
signal detector appropriately connected to the microprocessor
decoder and controller. Additionally or alternatively, the toy can
be actuated to reproduce the "learnt" functions by means of a
command picked up by the microphone 14.
[0018] The broadest form of the invention comprises a transmitter
operable in response to a set of instructions to emit an ultrasonic
signal at predetermined times in accordance with said instructions.
Thus the transmitter need not comprise a PC loudspeaker and could
comprise television or radio apparatus provided with a suitable
loudspeaker capable of emitting the necessary ultrasonic signal and
preferable also an audio signal. It will be appreciated that the
apparatus of the invention will not necessitate modification of the
hardware whether or not it comprises a computer, television or
radio apparatus. The only requirement is that one or more
loudspeakers are provided capable of emitting the necessary
ultrasonic signal in addition to the normal audio frequency signal.
All of the command codes for the receiver are contained within the
program which can either be run on a PC or elsewhere and
transmitted through a loudspeaker. When used with a PC, the program
may be embodied in a floppy disk or a CD Rom or may be downloaded
from the Internet.
[0019] In an alternative embodiment as shown in FIG. 1b, the
ultrasonic signal generated in the PC 10 can be transmitted to the
decoder 14 electronically without a speaker or microphone. Rather,
a cable 32 (for example, a jumper cable) can be used so that the
ultrasonic signal passes directly into the decoder 14
electronically, thereby ensuring error free transmission. More
particularly, one end of the cable 32 feeds into the speaker output
jack (not shown) of the PC and the other end of the cable 32 feeds
into an input jack (not shown) of the decoder 14.
[0020] The program may have a typical running time of around 1
minute during which time the receiver housed in the toy could
either react immediately to an ultrasonic signal or store a signal
for subsequent actuation of a function. For example, a toy in the
form of a dog could have a pre-programmed function switchable to
its "on" condition upon reception of an ultrasonic signal so as
immediately to cause the audio function to emit a barking sound.
The toy dog could receive an ultrasonic signal and store the "on"
instructions in its microprocessor memory to actuate a suitable
function in response to a later command received from either an
infra-red controller or via the microphone 14.
[0021] In a further example, a toy could have a pre-programmed
function comprising a clock wherein one or more of the clock
settings is variable in response to a said ultrasonic signal from
the transmitter.
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